A Mile in Her Shoes
by LZClotho
Summary: Posted for SwanQueenWeek 2013: "Body Swap." Regina and Emma wake up each in the other's body, and must fix the situation. Along the way they learn a great deal about each other, and themselves. Time frame is post-"The Cricket Game" in mid-season 2, though there are some events conveniently rearranged to serve the plot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Takes place after the great Swan Queen Reunion ("Queen of Hearts") of season 2 but before Rumple demands Emma accompany him out of Storybrooke.

_Posted on 7/19 as part of #swanqueenweek "Body Swap" theme day._

**Summary:** Magic is different here. One night as Regina curls up alone in her bed, across town Emma lays down with Henry after a heart-to-heart. Regina is struggling with her redemption and her mother who revealed a surprising detail about Emma: the Queen of Hearts could not take the Savior's heart. Emma is thinking just as hard about Regina, sure to her bones that Regina needs help to fight off her mother...

**A Mile In Her Shoes**

**by LZClotho**

Dawn breaks, and Regina blinks into the sunlight, surprised it would be coming into her room so brightly from her west-facing windows. Then she realizes she's not wrapped around a pillow as she had been when falling asleep, but rather a body. Henry's body. She studies the peaceful repose of her son's face for a long moment. What is he doing in bed with her? On the heels of that thought is fear. If he stays with her Cora almost certainly will use him to force Regina to do her bidding. But, if Henry is here is Emma also close by?

It's only then that Regina realizes she is not, in fact, in her bedroom at all. She sees Emma Swan's red jacket hanging on the back of a chair which Regina knows does not exist in her room. Further examination reveals more unfamiliar things and Regina understands she must be in the apartment Emma and Henry share with the two idiots. _How on earth did I get here?_

With reluctance, Regina separates from Henry and rises from the bed. A shiver makes her look down at her body to see the lower half of a familiar white tank top, and red boy shorts. Below that is a pair of bare muscular legs that end in broad feet with black painted toenails. Regina inhales sharply.

She's not just in Emma Swan's apartment. Somehow, she is _in_ Emma Swan. She only just manages to stifle the urge to scream, slapping a hand over her mouth, before it can come bubbling out. A whine, in Emma's grating tones, squeezes past anyway.

"Emma?" Henry's sleepy voice sounded behind her.

Regina's heart clenches as she turns. Smiling lightly, she takes in the sweet sight of Henry rubbing at his eyes, dark hair mussed, pajamas haphazardly twisted on his body. He blinks and beams up at her. There is none of the hesitation and none of the suspicion to which Regina has become accustomed. It reminds her of Henry in kindergarten, the summer he spent without his front teeth, and yet everything new that happened excited and pleased him and he was eager to share it all with her.

Tears fill her eyes and she brushes at them with the back of her right hand.

"Emma? What's wrong?"

She shakes her head and murmurs, "Nothing." She swallows and pushes a smile onto her lips. "Ready for breakfast?"

Henry scrunches up his nose. "Can we...?" He trails off.

"I'll make your favorite omelet," she suggests.

"How do you know...?"

Regina shakes herself. "Well, what would you like?"

"I'll just have cereal." He sounds like that was the least desirable option, his tone solemn.

"You don't want me to cook for you?" She sounds, in Emma's voice, rather pathetic.

"It's OK," Henry replies. "You've got other things to do. You were right last night. You should probably get to the station."

That piques Regina's curiosity. "About what?"

"To figure out a way to get my mom away from her mother."

"Em - I mean, you think I should do that?"

"You told me you met Cora. You didn't think there was a whole lot my mom could do about what happened to her."

Emma thought that? Really? Regina recalls Emma's words to her at the Wishing Well. "Your mom... She's a real piece of work, y'know?" They had not spoken further about Cora, but on some level Emma apparently thought differently about Regina as a result. Regina is not sure she likes Miss Swan thinking she knows her so well.

Henry breaks into Regina's thoughts. "So, you go. If we're going to stop whatever Cora is really after, it's going to have to be soon."

"Are you certain you can get yourself ready for school and get to the bus stop on time?"

Henry rolls his eyes as he rolls out of bed. "I went all the way to Boston on my own."

Regina nods. "Yes, you did. All right. I'll go to the Sheriff's office."

Henry launches himself across the room toward her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Good luck! I know you can do it!" In the next instant, like a whirling dervish, he has blown from the room, the stillness as rattling as the chaos only moments before.

Regina finds herself staring at her reflection - or rather Emma's reflection - in the small bathroom mirror. "So you've been thinking I need saving?" Skepticism shines back at her through the shadows in green eyes and the curve of her shoulders. She straightens herself. It strikes her then, as Emma's body takes on Regina's posture and looks rather absurd doing so, that Regina hasn't heard a peep from Emma's spirit. So, if she isn't actually sharing this body with the other woman, where did she go?

She worries at her bottom lip at the prospect that Emma wasn't anywhere. As much blood as Regina has on her hands from a lifetime of vengeance, she truly doesn't want Emma's. They might fight, two cats hissing over the same prize, but Henry would be devastated. When Regina realized that, Emma became safe from her.

That didn't mean the blonde was safe from everyone. She wonders if Rumple, or Cora, had caused this. How could Regina find out what had happened? She didn't even know yet how the transfer had taken place. She needs the book of magic locked in her safe at the mansion. Her only save, she realizes, is Cora has no idea it is there. They had only come up from Regina's safe room under the mausoleum the day before.

It would look strange for Emma Swan to just let herself into Regina's home, even with the Sheriff's shady past. Then Regina thought about it again. It wouldn't be unusual for the Sheriff to demand entry to the mansion. Under the guise of an investigation. And, at least according to Henry, she had already expressed the desire to seek out Regina.

Her course of action seemed clear. Regina turns to the next order of business: dressing. She steps up to an armoire standing in the corner and pulls open the doors. Faced with a paltry selection of clothes, certainly ones she would never choose for herself, Regina selects one of the three pairs of jeans, a blue cotton button-down shirt, and starts stripping.

A careless glance around for a likely place the blonde would store undergarments, however, and Regina's gaze is caught in a long mirror. This time she wasn't lost in the green gaze, but the embarrassing amount of milk-cream colored skin on display.

She squeezes her eyes shut and turns away. Opening her eyes once again, she spies a small dresser. Please let it have underwear! she thinks and lunges at it, her heart unaccountably racing. She finds a black bra - who thought the rough-n-tumble former bondswoman owned anything that lacy - and more of the skimpy, snug boy-style panties in her choice of red, black, or powder blue. Determined to at least meet some of her own sensibilities, Regina grabs the black boy shorts. She puts everything on with her eyes closed, senses heightened by the snap of elastic, and the feel of the roughened pads of fingers across her abdomen. It's unnerving, as if someone else - Emma - is undressing her. Once she is covered, with the aid of the mirror, she tucks in the shirt and goes to button the cuffs, only to realized the sleeves are too long. Then she remembers Emma wears several of her shirts with rolled sleeves. She sighs and rolls them to just below her elbows.

Examining the effect critically in the mirror, Regina is finally left with the matter of Miss Swan's hair. The long blonde locks are a mass of riotous curls. She tries to recall Emma's style, only to recall she'd worn it any number of ways, from ponytail to single and double hair clips, to nothing at all. So she finger-combs it, finding the strands surprisingly silk-soft. Who'd have thought the woman took such close care of her hair? Her fingers linger after the task of finally securing a ponytail. Regina has a flash image of stroking a sleeping Emma's hair. Would she have done that had it been Emma who ate the poisoned apple instead of Henry? Shaking off the unsettling thought, Regina tackles Emma's boots. She refuses, however, to touch the red jacket.

Her stomach flutters. Pressing her hand to it, she glances at the door, then back at the reflection of Emma in the mirror. She prays this works.

"Henry!" she calls. "If you're ready, I can take you to school." There is no response.

Heading down the steps into the apartment's kitchen, Regina finds an abandoned cereal bowl and spoon in the sink, and no sign of Henry.

She spots a small bowl on a table by the door and grabs the keys laid within. She tests them in the front door locks and finds the one to lock the apartment. She can only hope one of the others starts Emma's car.

Halfway down the steps when the thought struck, Regina freezes in place and groans. She is going to have to drive that yellow death-trap, isn't she? She closes her eyes, inhales and exhales, and then finally frowns. Damn, she hopes she can fix this mess soon.

_._

_**Author's Note:**__ Next up, where's Emma?_


	2. Chapter 2

**A Mile in Her Shoes 2**

**by LZClotho**

.

Emma's eyes snapped open at an unfamiliar sound. She hadn't been back from the Enchanted Forest long enough for her guard to relax. Besides, she reminds herself, she now has Henry to worry about and...

She blinks, not sure she trusts what her eyes are seeing. No change. OK. So why doesn't her ceiling look right? In place of the plain globe light fixture a three-branch light hangs from the center of a dark wood long-blade fan. She scrunches up her face trying to recall the night before.

The memories come back easily. She wasn't drinking. In fact, she curled up with Henry after he'd worn out himself, and her, worrying like a dog with a bone at the problem of Cora and Regina. Her hands fisted now in the sheets and she realized they weren't Mary Margaret's simple cotton weave. These were high quality, high thread count satin, and they were the kind of blue one found in a midnight sky. Mary Margaret, even after she had regained her memories as Snow White, kept rather basic crisp white sheets.

Sitting up, Emma gained a vastly more informative perspective on her situation. Across the room she spies a vanity table with a gilded mirror. In the surface, Regina Mills was sitting up in bed, hands twisting in midnight blue sheets wearing a powder blue satin nightie. She was staring directly at Emma. Despite Regina's repeated charge that Emma could be remarkably obtuse, the pieces of the puzzle snap into place and create a picture with startling clarity.

_Holy shit!_ Emma still glances down at what feels to be her body and consciously unclenches her fingers, releasing the sheet. Propelling herself from the bed, her legs tangle and she slams face first into the floor, getting a mouthful of wall-to-wall Berber carpet. _Pah. Shit._ Ignoring the shaking in her legs and the pain blossoming in her knees, Emma tears herself free of the bed linens and starts ransacking the room looking for a telephone.

"Regina? Dear?"

Emma freezes with her hand mid-air over the bedside phone. _Cora!_

"Dear? Are you all right?" _The woman is right outside!_ Emma's heart thuds in triple-time panic leaving her breathless.

What would Regina call her mother? "Um, I'm fine." Better safe than sorry. Emma had no confidence she could pull off a protracted episode of trying to imitate Regina, mercurial at the best of times, in front of the woman's own mother.

"I thought I heard banging." Cora's query sounded reasonable enough. Emma wonders at the state of the witch's relationship with Regina. Regina's "Indeed I do," reply at the well to Emma's comment about Cora replayed in Emma's mind. _Not very specific there, Regina_. But it was enough for Emma to know Cora didn't belong to the category of the best memories of Regina Mills.

"Just tripped over something on the floor," Emma supplies quickly, still balking at the sound of Regina's voice coming out of her mouth.

Silence was the response on the other side of the door. Emma creeps closer to listen for sounds that Cora might be moving off, back to her room, or wherever. She hears nothing. Cautiously she lets out a breath.

After a silent count to ten, and then another ten, Emma grasps the bedroom doorknob and turns it completely before pulling the door inward a fraction.

Through the sliver of space she can't see any sign of the older woman she remembers from the Enchanted Forest. Emma opens the door wider and leans out.

Cora is standing at the far end of the corridor and is reaching for the staircase bannister. She lifts dark eyes that intersect Emma's gaze, dissecting her a moment. "Twenty-eight years with the morals of this world have changed you, dear."

"Huh?" Emma sputters.

"You're not even wearing a dressing gown or slippers." There was a curl of distaste to Cora's lip.

"Where're you going?" Emma asks.

"Since we're both awake, I thought we might talk over some tea."

Before the befuddlement could show on her face, Emma pulls back inside the bedroom and shuts the door. Frantically looking around, she spies a robe on a hook on the back of the door. Quickly she shrugs into it and pulls the belt snug on the tiny waist.

Uneasily, Emma studies Regina's reflection in one of the ever-present mirrors and finger-combs the shoulder-length dark tresses. She hesitates with her hand in the satin fall of hair and becomes lost in brown eyes. Cora was sure to know something was wrong if Emma stepped out there looking like this. Emma had never seen Regina wearing quite this look of panic. She consciously shifts muscles in her face trying for some neutral expression at least. She sighed. _Pitiful._ She rolled her eyes.

_Aha!_ Emma caught a glimpse of the familiar Regina-esque expression of annoyed tolerance. It would have to do. With determination she reforms the expression. Only then does she leave the bedroom and run down the stairs. At the bottom, however, she has to decide which way to the kitchen. She had been in Regina's house a couple times, and only once to the kitchen. She did not possess crystal clear memories since most of the time in a room Regina Mills was all Emma could see.

Then she hears the clatter of metal to her left and exhales, striding in that direction with relief.

_This kitchen would make some celebrity chef orgasmic_, Emma thinks. It boasts huge counters, a central island, and, it seems, every appliance imaginable. In the 28 years of the curse, Regina must have acquired every cooking gadget advertised on late night TV. With her back to Emma, Cora stands at the stove apparently fidgeting with the teapot.

"Would you fetch the tea, dear?" Cora asks without turning.

Emma stares at the cabinets. Where in the hell would Regina keep tea? If Emma didn't go right to it, Cora would certainly suspect something was wrong.

Emma thinks fast. Hugging the robe tightly with her left hand, she steps alongside Cora and goes for the cabinet handle there with her right hand. She scans the items inside quickly and spies a box labeled East India Tea Company. Grasping it she sees Cora studying her out of the corner of her eye. She slaps the box on the counter. "Here's your tea."

"Aren't you having some?" Apparently comfortable with the layout of Regina's kitchen, Cora reached into another cabinet to the left of the stove and withdrew one mug, but she pauses before placing it on the counter as she awaits a response.

Emma had seen Regina drink coffee more often than not. She shakes her head. She adds after a breath, "No, thank you."

A spark of anger forms in Cora's eyes alongside a spark of what Emma recognizes as the woman's magic. She'd seen the same just before the woman's hand stabbed into her chest having intended to rip out Mary Margaret's heart.

But the other woman's hand doesn't move from the mug. "You're still angry with me?" Cora asks, and she has the gall to sound hurt. "I thought we settled this last night."

Emma grumbles. "You framed me for Archie's murder."

"He was just a bug, dear."

"He was - " Emma cut off her indignation abruptly and casts about for some other thing to say. "He was important to Henry."

"I told you I would help you with that."

Had the two women already discussed a plan to reclaim Henry? Emma studies Cora. She had crossed mental swords with this lady already once. She was definitely a cool character. She fed you only what you needed to know. Emma's instinct told her whatever her words to Regina, Cora had been vague. Very vague. "Pardon me, if I think you were a little light on the details."

She leans back against the nearby countertop and crosses her arms over her chest. She tries not to think about the fact that it is Regina's breasts rubbing against the soft skin of her bare arms. Cora's brow furrows. _Oops, out of character_, Emma realizes. Quickly she uncrosses her arms, placing one hand on the counter.

"Why are you really here, Mother?" Emma tries formality. It feels more like Regina's style anyway.

"I'm here for you, dear."

Emma snorts in disbelief. She blinks in surprise. It sounded funny coming from Regina's nose. "OK. Never mind," she covers quickly. "When you're interested in telling the truth, we'll talk." She heads for the kitchen entry, intending to return upstairs.

She feels a pressure across her chest, tightening across her breasts, squeezing her arms into her sides, stressing her breathing. She squares her shoulders and shoves outward, more with her will than her body. But the effect is instant. The constriction vanishes.

She glares once back over her shoulder at Cora to see the woman frowning. Saying nothing, Emma turns and continues to walk away.

The exchange told Emma everything she needed to know. Whatever Cora's true endgame, Regina was a useful pawn in it, not an accomplice. Hook had acquired more knowledge of Cora's plans in the Enchanted Forest.

.

_**Author's Note:** Emma and Regina make contact._


	3. Chapter 3

**A Mile in Her Shoes 3**

**by LZClotho**

.

Emma strides upstairs only to face Regina's reflection once again in the mirror. She wonders how she is going to survive any longer trying to be Regina. She has to find out how this out-of-body experience happened. She reaches for the phone. Instinct makes her dial her cell number.

"Hello?" She hears her own voice filled with uncharacteristic caution.

"Regina," she announces abruptly.

"Emma?"

"What the hell happened?" Emma hisses. "I went to sleep in my bed and woke up in yours. Not to mention..." She sighs, trailing off. "Where are you?"

"Staring at your decrepit vehicle."

Emma thinks quickly. "Drive over here and arrest me."

"What?"

"Your mother smells something's up. We need to go somewhere to fix this."

"But I didn't kill Archie. Cora did."

"I know. He's actually not dead. He's safe and sound. Ruby's watching over him."

Now Regina's brain added to the mix. "Cora will try to stop you - me - you from leaving the house without her." Emma hears the sigh of pronoun confusion over the phone connection.

"Then you're going to have to play bad cop," Emma says. "Get over here." She hangs up the receiver and sits on the bed staring at Regina's reflection. "Better get cleaned up," she realizes aloud, taking in the gaping decolletage of the robe on the verge of revealing much more of Regina's naked skin than Emma figures she can handle.

She glances at the robe as she unties the sash and lays it aside. Out of the corner of her eye she sees olive-toned bare shoulders reflecting in the mirror.

_Shit._ To clean up she going to have to get naked. _Regina_ naked. "Oh god," Emma mutters, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes, and then walking into the bathroom determined to do this with her eyes closed.

She doesn't manage it. The shower pressure here, unlike Mary Margaret's ancient plumbing, is divine, and the act of scrubbing at skin with a natural sea sponge ignites nerve endings throughout her body, borrowed though it is. It is a heady combination of warm water and slick skin, and the sponge drops from her fingers, splashing wetly on the top of her left foot.

Emma closes her eyes, but with her fingertips she follows the tingling to her center. Finding neatly trimmed hairs and a swollen nub just peeking from beneath an over-sensitive hood, the first touch almost buckles her knees. "Oh, fuck," she gasps, hearing Regina's voice as if it was whispering in her ear. _Damn, the woman's voice is sexy when she curses_.

She smooths one hand over a breast and then tweaks a nipple. Twin lightning bolts of sensation shoot simultaneously to her head and groin. She gasps again and Regina's throaty sound assaults her ears. The fingertips against her body are silk-soft, the nipple under them turgid. Emma pinches and rolls and follows the sensations back to her groin with her other hand.

Pressing in two fingers to assuage the need, Emma feels the shower pulsing against her skin. She can hear Regina's moans in her ears and feel Regina's flesh swelling and tightening around her fingers. Both in response to the sensations, and the sounds of Regina's voice urging her one, Emma's stroking becomes more intent.

Then, suddenly, she is coming. She is inside and outside the orgasm at the same time. She's never felt anything like it. It's ten times more intense than she ever remembers a previous self-service being. Light explodes behind her eyelids. The sounds of Regina gasping, moaning, and crying out resound in her ears. Out of breath, Emma sinks to the floor of the shower. She tastes salt on her lips and realizes she is crying.

A confusing riot of emotions, release and tension, despair and exhilaration, exhaustion and energy, shame and comfort, and panic and peace, tumble out of her in sobs and shivers. She lifts her hands to cover her face, only to be confronted with Regina's scent on her fingers. _Oh god_.

Gradually she calms. Reaching up she turns off the water, hearing the metal squeak of a pipe closing. Grabbing deep lungfuls of air, Emma pushes to her knees, wrestles herself to the bathroom floor and stands, leaning hard on the bathroom sink. Through the fog on the mirror she meets dazed brown eyes with the pupils still half-blown. _God, just-fucked Regina is gorgeous_.

A knock comes at the door that sets Emma's heart racing even faster. It's a wonder she's not stroked out yet.

"Regina, that annoying blonde is at the door. She's demanding to see you."

_Regina!_ Emma splashes cold water on her face and vigorously rubs at her body with a towel until she is mostly dry. As the fluffy bathtowel skims her breasts and between her thighs though, her body continues to thrum with the echoes of her orgasm.

_Damn, I need out of here. Now._ She grabs the first things she finds in Regina's closet and dresses quickly. She is just coming to the top of the stairs when she hears Cora speaking to the person at the front door.

"My daughter is indisposed. I do think whatever the matter is could wait until a more civilized hour, Sheriff."

"My business - " comes out almost demurely. Then abruptly a yell follows. "Regina Mills! You come out here or I'm coming in to get you!"

Emma smiles, amused by Regina's attempt at "bad cop." She clears her throat, however, and starts down the stairs. "It is an indecent hour, Sheriff Swan, but I'm here. What is it you simply must see me about right this minute?"

They eye each other across the space, Cora between them still holding open the front door. "Emma" had put her hand flat against the door frame, as if she might push her way inside.

* * *

Regina is momentarily stymied to silence seeing herself on the stairs. Even with access to Regina's extensive designer wardrobe, Emma Swan's deplorable dress sense has clad the brunette's body in a pair of green slacks and a maroon blouse. The tail of the blouse is untucked and the buttons are misaligned halfway up. If her mother didn't suspect something before this, she was sure to now.

"You're coming to the station with me. Answer questions about the - Archie's disappearance."

"Disappearance? I thought he was dead?" Cora asks.

'Regina' came more quickly down the steps. 'Emma' turns to Cora. "He escaped."

"So he can tell you it wasn't me," 'Regina' says.

"He says you tried to strangle him in his office, but then he woke up on a ship in the harbor. We're looking for Hook now." 'Emma' grabs for 'Regina's' arm and fumbles cuffs around her wrist. "Let's go."

"But Sheriff -" Cora protests demurely.

"Don't think I've forgotten what you tried to do," 'Emma' snaps at Cora; Regina is rather proud of herself in that moment and feels the strengthening in her spine. "If you don't want an obstruction of justice charge, you'll keep those magic hands out of town business."

Cora's brow furrows as she looks from one woman to the other.

"Mother," 'Regina' pleads.

"I'll think of something, dear." The lack of promise in the tone is clear to both Emma and Regina. Cora makes no move when the sheriff leads her daughter to the cruiser parked in the drive. The blonde woman rests her hand lightly on the back of the brunette. Both women pause at the front passenger door where Regina says something to Emma that Cora couldn't hear. Then the blonde is helping the brunette settle into the back seat of the police cruiser.

'Emma' glances nervously at Cora before going around to the driver's side and slipping the sedan into gear and backing away.

"This is insane," Regina says as the manor house diminishes in the distance, keeping her eyes on the road.

"We got away, didn't we?" Regina's voice responds from the back seat.

The blonde's hand slaps the steering wheel.

"What?"

"I meant to get the spell book from my safe."

"What spell book?"

"Mine. Well, mine after it was my mother's. I was hoping it could provide a solution to our problem." Emma's eyes meet Regina's in the rear view mirror.

The two women drive the remainder of the way to the sheriff's station in pensive silence. Both are thinking the exact same thought: _What on earth are we going to do now?_

.

_**Author's Note:** Mistaken identity mishap coming up._


	4. Chapter 4

**A Mile in Her Shoes 4**

**by LZClotho**

.

Grumpy stumbles out of the drug store where Sneezy still insists he is a pharmacist. He went every day to report on the dwarves' progress with the fairy dust and efforts to regain their brother's lost memories. And every day he was thrown out by a man certain he was going crazy with all the talk of fairies and magic dust. He's particularly freaked over the idea that he - or any of them - had been born from an egg. That bit of sharing had been Doc's idea, thinking telling the man of his previous life would jog something in his head.

Across the street he spies Emma Swan wrestling with cuffs on Regina Mills in front of the Sheriffs station. Regina is shaking her hands and her voice is demanding the keys in a high panicked tone. Emma's hands are fumbling around Regina's wrist and he catches a the glint of metal falling away from fingers to clatter against the pavement. Emma starts to bend over to pick it up and Regina's hands start upward. Certain the Savior is about to be clapped against the back of the head by the cuffed Evil Queen, Grumpy rushes across the street and throws his stout body, shoulder leading, into the tall brunette, dropping them both to the ground with a growling "No, you don't, you bitch."

Unleashing all his frustration over Sneezy and the whole damn Storybrooke situation, Grumpy wrestles Regina onto her stomach and straddles her, pushing her face into the pavement as he looks over toward Emma. "I got her, Princess. So what finally made ya bring in the bitch?"

"Leroy! Get off me!" Underneath him, Regina continues to struggle. Emma grabs at his arms, pulling him up.

He rumbles to his feet and begins dusting himself off only to stop in surprise mid-pat when Emma leaves him to help Regina to her feet. He can only stare as the women's hands mutually work at straightening the brunette's clothes.

"Leroy, relax, I've got this," Regina Mills says. He stares at the brunette woman as she brushes at a scrape on her face with the fingers of her right hand though her wrists are still cuffed and says, "I'm sorry," to Emma. "I've got a first aid kit inside."

Emma blinks, but then nods tightly. She holds up the key to the cuffs. "Shall we get in off the street, Sh... Madam Mayor?"

Regina leads the way inside the station and Grumpy finally moves along when the silence weighs too heavily and he realizes he stands alone on the sidewalk. _What the hell was that all about?_ As grumpy as his name implies, he stomps off in search of another outlet for his ire.

* * *

Emma and Regina push awkwardly together into the tiny bathroom inside the building. Bending over in Regina's clothes proves awkward for Emma as she searches through the cabinet beneath the sink for the first aid kit. Regina in Emma's body lowers herself primly to the top of the lidless toilet seat. Emma in Regina's body glances around and studies the blonde woman - herself - sitting very unlike herself. Her knees are pulled tightly together, and her hands are rubbing at the thighs of her jeans. Feeling awkward about watching her own form looking so out of place, Emma quickly wields the gauze and tincture. "Found it."

Regina rises again and takes the materials. "All right, let's clean up that scrape."

Emma hisses as the tincture is applied; she watches her face lean closer and closer until she has to close her eyes or they'll cross. Then suddenly a light breath is blowing across the painful skin and she feels the pain dissipate. "What did you do?" she asks, thinking the woman did some magic.

Green eyes blink in surprise. "I... did it whenever I treated Henry's scrapes. He seemed to appreciate it."

Emma grasped Regina's hands in her own. "Thanks."

The women are caught up in each other's gaze for several heartbeats. Emma diverts her gaze first. "Sorry, I'm just... it's weird looking at my own face, y'know?"

Regina nods and tucks unruly blond curls behind her ear. "I suppose we should figure out how to reverse this... situation."

"I wouldn't even know the first thing to do," Emma points out. "Maybe your mother?"

"I can't see how. Or why."

"So... how are we going to undo it?" Emma's getting anxious now, and it's showing up... in Regina's voice.

The anxiety assaulting her in her own tones worries Regina and she finds it more unsettling than listening to herself in Emma's voice now. "We will figure this out," she states, more aggravated than she intended.

She watches her body react to Emma's voice, frowning, and realizes Emma is having just as much trouble listening to herself sounding very un-Emma-like.

"Perhaps we should figure out if we each have access to the other's magic."

"I've never done magic."

"Yes, you have. Remember Jefferson's hat? Remember reading Pongo's thoughts?"

"This is not reading a dog brain, Regina."

"Your brain is not much more sophisticated, Miss Swan."

"Hey, you're inhabiting me for the time being, so be nice."

"Have you been nice to my body?" Regina asked. She was surprised to see her own cheeks turn pink and her eyes drop. She recalls her own adventure in dressing this morning.

Emma, in Regina's voice, admits the rest: "I had to shower."

Regina inhales deeply and then exhales slowly. When she is finished, she asks, "Before or after you knew you were me?"

The blush is enough of an answer.

Regina is embarrassed by this news, but there isn't time to indulge now. "Well," she says brusquely. "We're both grown women. I'm sure we'll keep this information between ourselves."

She watches her own dark head nod vigorously. It really is unsettling to see how freely her body moves with Miss Swan's casual mannerisms. Regina wouldn't have believed her body possible of some of the gestures being casually tossed around.

Frustration - and she finds it is more directed at herself than Emma - fills her, coming out in Emma's tones. "All right, so. Magic." She lifts Emma's hand - her own for the moment - and goes through her own normal ritual for accessing her magic. There's a faint glow around the tips of her fingers. It's a white light with a vaguely blue hue. It's much harder to access than her own. She feels as though strings are pulling in her chest, instead of the airy feeling she gets in her own chest when she employs her magic.

It's at this point she remembers Emma's magic is elemental, part of her, whereas Regina's was learned. Time to figure out what that will mean in her own body.

Regina says as she closes Emma's fist and wills the magic to recede. The glow on her fingertips fades, but she can feel the magic hasn't completely retreated. It pulses in wait, she realizes, in the very blood of her hands and arms. "All right. Your turn."

Emma is a decent mimic. She lifts her hands just as Regina did. The light doesn't appear. She squints at her hands and wiggles her fingers.

"You have to decide on something to do," Regina says. "Magic needs a purpose."

"So what should I be thinking of doing?" But Regina is a step ahead and searches through the small bathroom space. "Command the towel to come to your hand." She indicates the hand towel on the wall behind her.

Regina isn't even sure of what really happens next. A blast of wind makes her close her eyes and when she opens them, she is covered in toilet tissue.

Across from her, she watches her own body bend double crossing her arms over her abdomen, tears running down her face. She's howling with laughter. It's as far from Regina can ever recall of herself she snaps, "Miss Swan!"

"Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Emma tries and fails several times to compose herself.

Watching "herself" losing control like that, laughing like that, Regina is so stunned it takes her a few moments to react, moments filled with being pawed as Emma tries to be helpful in cleaning away the toilet tissue bits while she continues to hear profuse apologies in her own voice. Hands are plucking at the shirt, brushing at the skin. Her fingers in Emma's clumsy way. Finally she slaps the hands away and sighs. "Stop. Thank you, Miss Swan. That will be all."

"I... I'll go." Emma and Regina edge around each other. Regina, as Emma and covered in toilet paper bits, stares at her reflection in the mirror as she hears the bathroom door click, leaving her alone in the tiny space.

.

_**Author's Note:** So, Regina is seeing herself a bit differently, and Emma, too. I wonder where that's going to lead..._


	5. Chapter 5

**A Mile in Her Shoes 5**

**by LZClotho**

.

Regina is staring at Emma's reflection in the mirror. Bits of white tissue are caught in the profuse blond curls. Tentatively she threshes her fingers through the hair. There's a slight tug and then there's a soothing sensation, like someone is stroking her head and telling her its going to be all right. Tears burn at the back of her eyes. She bites her lip and inhales short before exhaling long, pulling herself together.

One at a time, her hands seek out the bits of white and toss them toward the toilet bowl. But the sight in the mirror finally really catches her attention and she stops, getting lost in green eyes. The expression is forlorn. Her natural acerbic inclination with the blonde bubbles up. "Miss Swan," she tells her reflection dryly, in Emma's voice, "_You_ are a _complete_ mess."

Laughter bubbles out unexpectedly. Regina frowns after the first snicker passes her lips. When had she last laughed? She couldn't... _Wait, yes_, she thought. Some time with Henry, as a child. No longer seeing Emma in the mirror, instead she was overcome with a memory...

_Henry had said, "Mama. Look." She had glanced over from her gardening to see him covered in dirt, a fistful of her favorite pansies in his grubby fist. "Weeding."_

_She had taken the flowers from his fist and he had rubbed at his face, likely an itch, and his skin had become even more blackened by the dirt. He'd laughed and dropped back to his knees to "weed" some more._

_Stunned and staring at the fistful of flowers, it hadn't occurred to Regina to scold him. It had felt like the release of years of pent up anxiety. Her son had given her flowers. _Her_ son._

Laughter and tears flow out of her together again now, until she is panting and leaning her heated forehead against the glass of the bathroom mirror. She sinks to the floor, weak-kneed and worn from the emotional upheaval that had been piling on since awakening that morning.

"Regina?" Regina hears her own voice from the other side of the door. "Hey, um, you all right?"

Regina doesn't have the breath to answer for several seconds. The door inches inward. She looks up from where she's sitting on the bathroom floor, back against the sink cabinet, legs splayed out in front of her.

Her own head, wearing an uncharacteristically concerned expression, peaks around the edge of the door. Brown eyes find her. "You... okay?"

"Yes, I... I'm fine." Regina wipes her eyes, grateful that Emma Swan is not a mascara woman as she studied her fingertips coming away wet. She pushes to her feet slowly. "All right. Time for Plan B."

"And that would be?"

"Blue Fairy."

"Not Rumplestil... Mr. Gold?"

"There is no way I am letting that imp know we are not in our right minds. You would do best not to harbor your family's apparent trust of that man."

"Oh, I don't. Just checking. Thought you were... well, he was..."

"He is a duplicitous, conniving, wretched... toad."

Regina's eyes widen the more "Emma" continues. "Is it possible he made this happen? Did you... do something?"

"We will have to rely on the Blue Fairy," she says.

"Well, I don't exactly trust her," Emma says. "She kinda... well, you remember August?"

"Pinocchio?"

"Yeah, well. He's... She turned him into a kid."

"What had he done?"

"He was dying for lying to us, turning back into wood. She saved him, but he doesn't remember anything from his adult life."

"That could be just a side effect of the spell. Those kinds of things aren't perfect. Cheating death is … difficult."

"Conveniently young Pinocchio has forgotten something August wanted to tell us before he was shot."

"Oh."

The women sit opposite each other at the deputy's desk in the main part of the sheriff's office.

"So, who's left?" Emma asks. "One of the other fairies? I think they're all the nuns at the convent?"

The blonde's shoulders shrug. It is such a familiar gesture Emma recalls for herself, but it is so atypical of Regina it catches Emma's attention, since she is watching herself with such fascination half the time. "Regina Mills, did you just shrug?"

"It's this ridiculous situation," she replies. "Back to the problem at hand. All right. So... fairies, huh? Who do you think? There's this one, I think her name is Nova, or Astrid... She... used to be sweet on Grumpy in the old world. Come on."

Both women stand and Emma, in Regina's voice, says, "Let me get this straight. We're going to find a fairy, who lived in Storybrooke as a nun, who used to be sweet on a dwarf?"

"You are as bright as you look... currently, Miss Swan. This is heartening." Emma rolled her eyes, and Regina rolled hers right back.

* * *

"We can't exactly just walk up there and start talking to Astrid," Emma says when she is getting out of the passenger side of the sheriff's vehicle.

From the driver's side, the blonde emerges. "What else would you suggest?"

"We should've called first."

"You should have thought of that when we were still at the station." In a very Regina-esque move, Emma's hands fist on her hips.

"Would you _stop_ that?" Emma says in exasperation, a perfect mimic of Regina in that moment - especially considering it came out in Regina's voice. "God, this is a mess."

"Yes. So, let's take care of this mess and we can be done with each other more quickly."

"I still think we should get Astrid out of the convent, talk to her away from Blue."

"How?"

"Toss me my phone."

"But it will be your - _my_ - voice." Regina pulls Miss Swan's cell phone from her jeans pocket. "Just tell me what to say."

Emma purses her - _Regina's_ lips - and her brow - yes, _Regina's_ again - furrows. She's going to have to be diligent with the night cream to keep away the wrinkles, Regina thinks. She sees the moment her expression clears. "Tell her Leroy's been arrested for drunken and disorderly and she needs to come bail him out."

"Has she done that before?"

"Twice."

Regina finds the number for the convent in Emma's contacts list and makes the call. She winces as the line opens and she hears the Blue Fairy answer. "I need to talk to Astrid," she says. Blue asks why. Regina doesn't want Blue interfering and so rather proud of herself she says, "Police business."

Emma smiles at her and gives her a thumbs up. Regina shakes her head and waits. Finally, Blue says that she will get the younger woman. Regina closes her eyes briefly and offers up silent thanks. When she opens them, Astrid is on the other end of the line.

And her own face is inches away in front of her with a huge smile. She gasps. Astrid on the line asks, "Are you all right?"

"Excuse me. Yes. My apologies. Just..." She knows she doesn't sound a damn bit like Emma, but damn it. She glowers at... herself. With the back of the phone she swats at the hand wrapped atop hers on the frame of the car door. She exhales and continues to Astrid, "It's Leroy, again. Can you... come get him?"

"What happened?" Astrid asks.

"The usual," Regina replies vaguely.

"I... I understand. I'll come right away." There was a click as the phone inside the convent was hung up.

Regina pulls the phone away from her face. "She'll be stepping out any second."

"Good work." Dark brown eyes are warm and a soft hand brushed gently over hers.

Regina feels herself preen with unexpected pleasure.

The convent door opens and both women turn to watch Astrid, in a simple dark blue cloak, hurry down the steps, watching her feet.

_**Author's Note:** OK. Before I get a lot of notes calling me a screw-up. Yes, there is a tiny anachronism in the conversation between Emma and Regina about August. Based on the timing of my story according to canon, the incident with August and the Blue Fairy hasn't happened yet. However, it just worked for this story, okay? I don't want Emma and Regina going to the Blue Fairy. Author's prerogative._


	6. Chapter 6

**A Mile in Her Shoes 6**

**by LZClotho**

.

Emma studies the very young woman moving quickly down the walk from the convent. It isn't until she is nearly to the drive that she looks up. Her body twitches in surprise when she sees the two women standing on either side of the sheriff's cruiser.

"It's all right, Astrid," she offers reassuringly. It isn't until she sees Astrid's fear-filled reaction - eyes wide and darting to the physical Emma standing on the driver's side - that Emma remembers she looks and sounds like Regina. "Come on." Emma steps back from the car and looks across the roof, her expression hopefully conveying a request for help.

Astrid turns toward the blonde. "Is something wrong, Sheriff? Why is the mayor here?"

Regina steps away from the car as well. "It's complicated. Something has happened."

"I'll help anyway I can."

Emma purses her lips and holds her tongue, watching Regina attempt to soothe the skittish nun. Uh, well, fairy. She is dubious about the woman's ability to help them, not really seeing in this tepid personality the same confidence she'd witnessed in the Blue Fairy, and even Regina Mills, when they were wielding magic.

"It's not really about the... Leroy." Emma hears the hesitation as Regina catches herself. "Are you willing to come with us?"

"If it's not Leroy, what is this about?" Astrid asks, and Emma sees it then, as the woman meets the gaze of the blonde steadily. _She's sensing something amiss_, Emma thinks.

"I don't want to talk about this here," Emma cuts in. "We gotta go somewhere else."

Astrid stares at her. Then her brows furrow. "You're not the mayor."

"I haven't been the mayor for a while, Astrid. The townspeople saw to that while Miss Swan and her mother were in the Enchanted Forest." Astrid almost gave herself whiplash as her head spun to watch the blonde, speaking in Regina's unmistakably measured tones.

"Sheriff? Your Majesty?" Astrid's head swivels between the two women. "What happened?"

"Can we please just go somewhere else? This place gives me the creeps." Emma insists. "I swear we won't hurt you."

Astrid's head swivels a couple more times. Suddenly all three of them hear the front door of the convent open and their gazes snap to see the Blue Fairy, attired as always as Mother Superior, stepping onto the convent porch. "Astrid?"

"Let's go," Astrid says, quickly moving to the rear driver's side door.

Emma and Regina exchange looks over the roof of the sheriff's cruiser and, silently agreeing not to look this gift horse in the mouth, duck quickly into the car. Regina starts the car and reverses down the drive to leave the property.

"Where to?" she asks once they are on the road, headed east, she thinks. She's feeling a little disconcerted. She'd been bombarded by unease from both Emma and Astrid when the Blue Fairy appeared on the porch.

"Henry's castle," Emma suggests.

"That was bulldozed," Regina reminds her.

"But it's private, and quiet, and away from populated areas of Storybrooke."

"You think what happened to you is dangerous?" Astrid asks.

"We think whoever did this to us is dangerous," Regina corrects.

"Who do you think did this? You've been... swapped, right?" Astrid clarifies.

"Yes, and we have no idea. But our magic - Miss Swan's and mine - isn't working properly."

"Blue said you had magic, Emma," Astrid sidetracks.

"My parents told her."

"Why didn't you ask her for help?"

Emma sighs. "I always trust my gut."

"And you... your gut said to trust me?"

"Regina mentioned your name."

"Thank you," Astrid says to Regina. "I don't know what I can do, but... Thank you."

Regina looks in the rear view mirror when she feels Astrid's hand slide onto her shoulder. She meets brown eyes and finds a grateful smile on pale thin lips. "You're welcome," Regina says, swallowing around a sudden lump in her throat.

* * *

The three women get out of the car at the waterfront park that had held Henry's playground castle once upon a time. The wind off the water is strong, bringing the scent of brine as it forced its way through Emma's thin clothing, making Regina shiver.

Astrid says, "All right. Let's at least first figure out what happened. From there maybe I can figure out a solution."

Regina answers first, hearing Emma's voice tripping out of her mouth. "I woke up this morning in Miss Swan's apartment, across town from my home."

Emma nods. "Same. I woke up in Regina's bed... room at the mansion." She cringes as Regina's voice catches a little at her hesitant explanation.

The young fairy is pensive. She's pacing a little circle on the ground between Emma and Regina. "Did you have contact with each other yesterday, or last night?"

Both Emma and Regina shake their heads.

"Did one of you have contact with another known magic user here in town?"

"Other than my mother," Regina replies. The brunette, however, shakes her head.

Astrid studies them for a moment. "Emma," she starts, and Regina's dark eyes turn to her. "What were you thinking about before you went to sleep?"

"I was thinking how crappy it was that Regina's mother framed her."

Astrid does not say anything in response though her expression suggests to Emma she finds the answer amusing. "Regina?" The blonde head turns toward her. "Same question."

Regina looks from Astrid to Emma, to the pile of overturned earth that has not quite yet grown over with grass to cover what she did so many months ago to her son's play place.

She turns back to Astrid. "I..." she frets. "I was thinking about something my mother said." She shivers against another blast of wind and hugs her arms around herself. And she feels Emma's - well, her own - gaze studying her.

Astrid is silent so long, it isn't until they both turn to look at her that Emma and Regina realize their gazes had become locked upon one another. "So... any ideas?" Emma-as-Regina asks.

"Cora could be your culprit. She was on both your minds at the same time, and she is the Queen of Hearts."

"She didn't seem very smug - wouldn't she be smug?" Emma asks.

Regina frowns.

"I can at least tell you if the spell came from her," Astrid says.

"Do it. If she's responsible for this we'll get her to undo it," Emma says.

Astrid pulls her wand from the fold of her cloak. She studies it a moment before lifting it and moving it in a circle above first the blond head and then the brunette head. It changes color over each woman's hair, first purple then white. She frowns.

"What is it?" Regina asks.

"I was expecting red if it was Cora's spell," Astrid says. "But I only saw your magic, and the Savior's."

"What does that mean?"

"You did this to yourselves."

Regina and Emma shook their heads. "That's not possible," Regina says. "The only kind of spell that would link..." The voice trails to silence. It wasn't possible. It's not.

"What?" Emma demands, making Regina's voice surprisingly high-pitched with an exasperated whine.

Astrid nods at Emma, acknowledging Regina's unspoken thought aloud. "You were not really thinking about Cora, were you, Emma?"

Long fingers thresh through dark locks. "I wanted to get Regina away from her."

"You did," Astrid assures. "And you went to handle it."

"So this is my fault?" Emma asks.

"Looks like you don't know your own strength. You should probably get some magic lessons. Sooner rather than later, Miss Swan."

"You don't come off nearly as sarcastic saying such things in my voice, Regina."

The blond head nods. "Fair enough. So," Regina-as-Emma turns to Astrid. "Since Emma can't control her magic, how will we undo this?"

"You'll have to," Astrid says. "I can supervise, but if I get too involved, we run the risk that my own spirit will swap with one of yours."

"All right," Emma says. "So what do I do?"

"Wrap your arms around each other."

"What?!" Two voices rise in asynchronous protest.

"It'll help you focus," Astrid points out, looking at the dark-haired woman. "Emma, the spell you intended to cast was to switch places. To pull Regina out of danger, and put yourself in her place. But you only got it done part way."

"I didn't _intend_ to do it _at all!_"

"You were tired, yes?" Astrid asks.

"Yeah, Henry had been gnawing at the problem until well past midnight." Emma catches Regina startle at Henry's name. "He's fine."

"I know. He told me - you - this morning."

"Once we found out Cora was the one who kidnapped Archie, framing you, damn it, Regina, I wanted to find you. Tell you, I'm sorry we - I'm sorry _I_ didn't believe you." Emma reaches out. It didn't matter it was her own hand she was wrapping her fingers around. She wants Regina to feel her apology. "Your mother ... She's... sadistic. She killed an entire community and turned them into zombies on us."

"She told me she tried to take your heart."

"She was really after Mary Margaret's. I kinda... got in the way," Emma says abashedly.

"She tried," Regina stresses, "but she didn't succeed." Emma's warm hand falls lightly against Regina's chest. Both of them feel the thundering heartbeat beneath. "My mother mastered that particular magic early," she says. "She does it so easily."

Emma and Regina's eyes meet, both swirling with color.

.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** And here it is... the final part.

** A Mile in Her Shoes 7**

**by LZClotho**

.

Astrid shields her eyes from the glow beginning to grow between the two women. Eventually it encompasses them, shrouding them from her view for several seconds. When it finally fades, the two women stand exactly where they had before, and each woman still stares into the other's eyes.

There was a faint movement of clasped hands. Astrid ventures, "Regina?"

The brunette head turns. Regina Mills' familiar voice, a little throaty, a little brittle, responds, "What is it?"

The fairy smiles. "Emma?" she says.

The blonde head turns. Emma's green eyes are revealing a little shell shock. The fingers she is grasping flex against her own. She swallows. "Um, yeah. I... I guess I did it?"

Astrid circles her wand over both their heads once more. White appears over Emma's blond locks and purple swirls above Regina's dark head. She smiles. "Yes, you did."

Emma exhales, almost visibly deflating. She pulls her hand away from Regina and shoves both her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "All right. OK." She looks at Regina who is frowning. "Um. Sorry, something still wrong? You're... you, right?"

"Yes, Miss Swan, I am definitely _myself_ once more." Regina looks down at her attire, the mish-mash of clothing Emma had selected that morning. She tucks in the tail of her blouse. Resolving the uneven buttoning will simply have to wait until a more private moment.

"Astrid," Emma says. "Thank you for your help. Could you... wait over at the car for a minute? I... I'd like to talk to Regina for just a sec. 'K?"

Astrid nods and turns, walking away from the other two women, tucking her wand inside the folds of her cloak.

"OK. She's gone. What didn't you want to say in front of her?" Emma asks.

Regina says nothing for a long moment. She brushes her hair out of her eyes from the wind and crosses her arms in front of her chest, a guard against the breeze... and other things. Finally she says harshly, "It's the same thing you wouldn't say in front of her... Emma."

The use of her first name, something that had only happened very recently from Regina, serves as almost a physical blow and Emma withdraws a step. The brunette turns and walks briskly to the sheriff's cruiser. She stops next to Astrid at the passenger side of the vehicle. As Emma watches, both women slip inside the car.

Emma hangs her head, takes her hands out of her pockets, one holding the keys, and trudges back to the car. "All right. Back to the convent."

* * *

Watching Astrid walk away, up the path back to the convent, Emma asks Regina, "Are you sure we should let her go up alone?"

"She has had much more practice hiding her thoughts from Blue," Regina replies, her tone is dry and annoyed. She is turning away when Emma turns to look at her.

"Regina." Emma knows what they aren't talking about. She doesn't know how to begin either. Finally she shakes her head and puts the car in reverse. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I have to return home. And the sheriff has to take me. I was led away in handcuffs for questioning, remember?"

"But Cora -"

"Is _my_ mother and you will not _handle_ her for me in some misguided notion of your responsibility to save me, Emma Swan."

"I promised, Regina."

"Who? Henry?"

Emma stops the car. Thankfully they are at an intersection and a stop sign. Regina nevertheless is lurched forward, her hand slapping against the dash to protect herself. But Emma's hand, also, stretches across Regina's chest. The light touch of her forearm to Regina's breasts has them both breathing hard.

Green eyes search brown, and the tone is firm. "No. I promised _you_."

"Emma -"

"Regina, wherever our minds went while we were switching back, we were _both_ there, and you know I mean it."

Emma won't forget that hazy moment any time soon. She had recognized her mind wasn't in Regina's body, and it wasn't yet in her own. Then she'd felt the presence of Regina's mind, alongside hers. It had felt like eternity, and no time at all, in the same instant. Her magic, Rumpelstiltskin had told her, was about emotion. Her desire to protect. There'd been flashes of memories: saving Regina from the fire, pulling Whale away from her on the porch, picking her up off the floor of the cell when the wraith attacked, and pushing her out of the way when it would have taken her into the portal to the Enchanted Forest.

"I'd do it again," she murmurs, opening her eyes and finding Regina's wide and a little frightened.

"But -"

"No buts," Emma replies. "You have a very nice ass, and I intend to continue saving it."

Regina blushes. Emma smiles.

"Did you really do... that while you were in my body?" Regina asks obliquely. She doesn't want or need to be specific. After all, Emma saw the thought, too.

Emma grins. "Yeah, I did."

Regina was quiet. Barely above a whisper, she finally says, "I've never done that."

"I'd be happy to show you how."

"Miss Swan!" Regina grasps Emma's forearm to push it away. Emma puts some resistance into the muscle, never taking her eyes off Regina.

"Emma," she insists. After a moment, she feels Regina relax and releases her arm. "I'll take you home, but if your mother says or does anything, I won't hesitate to take you away again."

Regina's head is down. Emma puts the car back in motion. When Regina still hasn't said anything, Emma says, "You're not alone. Not anymore."

The sheriff's cruiser pulls into the drive at the mansion and Regina looks around before reaching for the door handle. Emma's hand meets hers at the belt latch. She looks up to find green eyes slightly crinkled at the corners and pink lips tilted up in a faint smile.

"All right?" Emma asks. She squeezes Regina's hand and then releases it. "Let's go." Regina watches Emma push her way out of the car before more sedately, and collecting herself a bit more with every measured move, she also steps out. She rounds the front of the car, skirting around a bush. Emma is waiting for her on the other side.

A light hand falls to Regina's back as Emma walks behind her up the path to the small landing at the front of her home. Regina realizes Emma didn't grab her purse when she left that morning. The handcuffs would have made that difficult anyway, she remembers fumbling the metal rings onto her wrists. "I need my key."

Emma steps away from Regina, who watches in surprise as the blonde goes directly to a small rock, one among many in the garden, turns it over and retrieves the key.

"Henry told me about it," Emma says when she returns to Regina's side, holding it out.

"Thank you." Regina fits the key in the lock and pushes the door inward. She hesitates a step after entering, looking around the foyer space, tilting her head to listen for noises. "Mother?" she calls. "Mother, I'm home."

After asking Regina to stay put with just a small "down" gesture with her right hand, Emma strides quickly through the rooms of the first floor. She returns to Regina's side with her report. "Not here. Maybe she went out."

"She doesn't know Storybrooke, and she has a penchant for impersonating me," Regina says.

"We did tell her that Archie had been found. Maybe she went to confront Hook about letting him get away."

"I'll call my father, tell him to be on the lookout," Emma says, pulling out her phone. "David... Uh, yeah, Dad? I need you to set up some patrols. Cora's around loose. She could be masquerading as Regina." She pauses. "Yeah, I know. I'll get the reports later. It's not like the mayor will punish me."

Regina asks, "What are you going to do?"

Emma doesn't answer until she is off the line. Tucking the phone back into her pocket she finally says, "Well, since I have a little free time, I thought we'd share a little of what we learned."

"About magic?"

Emma cups Regina's chin. "About each other." She searches the brown eyes for some indication that she will be rejected. While there is fear in the depths, there is a flicker of something else, too. Emma forms a slow smile.

"Back in the station," Emma begins, her lips moving millimeter by millimeter closer to Regina's. "The first time, I mean," she clarifies, pulling back slightly. Regina's pupils are already expanding. Emma can feel the hitch in the other woman's breathing as it passes across her chin. "I told my parents I could see you were changing." She catches and holds Regina's gaze for a beat with her own. "The look on your face - the expression - I understood what you were feeling. Even then."

"Now through a mishap of magic that lasted all of a day," Regina sighs, "You think you know me."

Tapping Regina's temple lightly, Emma nods and smiles. "I gotcha." Regina scoffs at the slang. "My parents may be idiots, but they really know how to do this true love thing." Emma kisses Regina on the cheek. "So... give me a chance to prove it?"

"My mother -"

Emma cuts off Regina's words with a soft kiss against the woman's quivering lip. "Your mother is a crafty old witch but, you know what? I'm a crafty bitch. And so are you. We're going to be able to figure out what she's really after, and we will stop her, Regina." Emma's hands slowly caressing Regina's face, Emma can see, are beginning to soothe the other woman a little.

She doesn't have to move in all the way this time either. Regina leans forward a little, Emma can feel where her body stretches, and meets Emma's lips. There's a little of bravado in the action, and a lot of plea that Emma is right. Sliding her hands into the short dark hair, Emma holds on tight and offers her promise of protection in a kiss as sincere as any she has ever given.

**THE END**


End file.
